Nick has kindly agreed to pull
together the relevant research into this
piece on leafleting, where he concludes:

Who knew leafleting could be so complicated?
Yet if we want to create as much behavior
change as possible, in order to reduce as
much suffering as possible, we need to think
carefully about the message we use. Do we
just want to express our own beliefs, or do
we want to use the message that is most likely
to persuade others?

Notes
from Our Members

Matt
Gonzalez provides the animals a voice at
Northern Virginia Community College.

Yvonne and
I met this beautiful soul after
we had packed up to leave Santa Monica Community
College. We made eye contact and I ran over
to her with a leaflet to “help animals.”
Within minutes she was crying, and later wrote
me:
“I’m happy
I met you – total Providence! Lately, I was
thinking I was eating too much meat and if I
should eat meat at all, but was in a mindless
loop. After our talk and viewing the pamphlets,
I became disgusted by meat due to animal cruelty.
Ironically, my mom prepared beef that night;
upon seeing and smelling it, I wanted to vomit.
Funny thing is I ruined her dinner after recalling
our discussion – she’s on board too!
“It’s shopping
day tomorrow and we’re excited to go vegan!
“Coworkers
asked what was I reading and I told them, then
lightly asked their opinions on animal cruelty.
They all agreed that commercial farms are wrong
and even expressed shame or guilt in their attitudes.
Their general response was, ‘Being vegetarian
is hard,’ but I was able to refute that.”—Nikki Benoit, 1/14/11

At
Santa Fe College, the students
were so very receptive and thoughtful. Hardly
anyone refused a booklet! Some students came
back after reading the leaflet and the conversations
went very well. I could tell that changes will
be taking place in their lives! I was thanked
multiple times for being there. A teacher said
he’d share the information with his students
for discussion.—Lana Smithson, 11/3/10

California
Polytechnic State gets a dose of compassion
from Roshanne Bakhtiary.

At
North Carolina A&T State,
the woman who approved our booklets told us
she eats mostly vegetarian (sometimes fishes
and chickens), and took booklets for herself.
A lot of students (and even staff) stopped to
ask for booklets; some wanted them to give to
friends.—Brandon Becker and Loren Hart, 11/1/10

I
got a booklet from the Warped
Tour this year and I finally read it. It made
me feel sick how they actually treat the animals.
I wish I could save them all.—KA, 12/12/10

A
great day for the soul – Brian
and I reached nearly 3,000 students at Sinclair
Community College, the University of Dayton,
and Wright State. Through-the-roof interactions.
One student told us her professor asked
in class, “What’s the difference between
cock-fighting and the way we are raising our
chickens?” as they discussed the literature.
We were in our element and definitely got to
a load of people today. Thanks as always to
the donors for making effective days like this
possible.—Vic Sjodin, 11/4/10

Great
day at Rutgers University, where
Cassandra, Amanda, and I reached over 1,000
students. We met tons of vegetarians and had
some really positive interactions, with students
saying they had been thinking of going vegetarian.—Eileen Botti, 11/3/10

Gloria
Lloyd helps Duke University students learn
the truth about modern agribusiness.

Great
day at University of Arizona! I
had more people stop / come back / wait to get
a booklet than ever before. Also got the most
verbal reactions ever – some squeals of delight
at the sight of Compassionate Choices,
but even more yelps of disgust as people opened
the booklet while walking away: “Oh God!”
“Ewwww!” etc. One woman came back
and took ten more for a presentation she’s giving.—Matt Ball, 11/4/10

Couch-surfing
on this last tour, I stayed with
two kids for a few nights. A few hours before
I was going to leave, one of the kids sat down
and asked me why I was vegan (like he was ready
to debate me). I gave him a leaflet and talked
all about the extreme confinement of farm animals
and slaughter practices. After the discussion,
he and his roommate watched Meet Your Meat.
At the end, one of them said, “I can’t see
how I can call myself a good person if I keep
eating meat.” We then put some veggie burgers
on the grill and ate a vegan meal. They both
got a Guide.
Sweet!—Phil Letten, 11/2/10

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.